


Take your time.

by chosuiri



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Really angsty with a dash of classique humor, cops and phantom thieves au, swearing and such + theyre aged up since.theyre cops., tetsuhina is more subtle. more plot orientated than anything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 03:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11682882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chosuiri/pseuds/chosuiri
Summary: Kuro Kiryu, Chiaki Morisawa's esteemed partner in crime fighting and rookie cop Tetora Nagumo's inspiration has gone missing upon investigating a new case of a missing heir to the famous Tenshouin company.Desperate to work his way up to a promotion in order to be able to pursue the case of his missing senpai, Tetora tackles the assignment of tracking down the famous phantom thieves going by the alias of "2phantom".Somehow, one of the thieves has taken a keen interest in him.





	1. missing in action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **edit:** I CHANGED THE TITLE now it's a p5 reference. wrow.  
>  are you ready for this au. it's gonna be heavy BUT i will sprinkle in some fun times oko k.  
> mostly this will be told in tetora's point of view but maybe, i will shift to hinata's side. i am not sure if i should yet
> 
>  
> 
> sorry im using kuro as a plot device
> 
> "was this inspired by that tw enstars poll" absolutely
> 
> also proofreading is for chumps so if there's typos i will probably edit this later

“Nice job, Tetsu.” Kuro praises the younger with a soft smile, and ruffles the boy’s hair gently. Tetora opens his mouth to protest, but closes his mouth quickly and allows him to do whatever. Although, that doesn’t mean he’s not going to complain at all.

“H-Hey… Boss, stop treating me like a kid!” He whines, but only receives a chuckle in response. “I caught the culprit, shouldn’t ya be praisin’ me like I’m a true officer now?”

“Sure,” Kuro snorts, “I’ll tell ya that when you’ve caught someone  _ besides _ a purse thief.” He removes his hand from his junior’s head, and takes out his phone.

Tetora just assumes that he is calling his actual partner, Chiaki Morisawa. Even though he’s fresh out of the police training academy, he is still required to stay with a more experienced officer at all times. It’s to prevent the newbies from making any mistaken arrests or get themselves in danger. Plus, it’s also a way to prevent more instances of the police abusing their power.

“Hey, Morisawa? Tetsu caught the thief. He’ll write a report up later. Aren’t ya proud of him?” Kuro speaks into his phone, and somehow Chiaki is loud enough for Tetora to hear that it’s him-- however, he can’t really make out what he was saying. It’d be concerning if he could, though.

Tetora pouts when he thinks about having to write a report about everything. With the culprit already taken into custody by some of their fellow cops, Kuro ends his call and glances at Tetora. “Patrol’s over. Let’s head back.”

Tetora nods, albeit reluctantly. There isn’t much of anything else to do. If anything, that arrest is the most exciting thing that happened all month. It’s been pretty peaceful in the city lately-- which is a good thing, really! But Tetora wishes for some more excitement in his life. Petty pilfering of an elderly woman’s purse is way too boring and predictable.

One of his main reasons of becoming a police officer is to protect the citizens and abide by his justice, but another one is that when he has watched some police dramas it’s been packed full of action. It’s a manly occupation, in his opinion-- he likes to envision himself becoming a man among men who upholds utmost justice.

He’s just a little disappointed. It’s the calm before the storm, right?

“Tetsu, are you listening? Even you can space out sometimes, huh~♪” Kuro laughs, shaking his head as he repeats himself. “Morisawa texted me. He says he’ll buy you dinner to celebrate. How does that sound?”

Tetora cries, kneels on the ground and puts his hands up to the air. Thank God. He doesn’t have to fight with the fire alarm again at his apartment and having to force himself to eat black chunks tonight.

Kuro shoots him an incredulous look, but shrugs. “I'll take that as a yes.”

Tetora’s face is flushed completely with a red shade out of embarrassment, and he forces himself to stand back up and act nonchalant. “Y-Yes! Where are we meeting? The usual place?”

“You know it,” Kuro affirms with a grin. At least once a month, Kuro, Chiaki, Tetora, and Midori would meet up to have Korean barbecue for dinner. Usually they split the check, but for Chiaki to kindly pay for all of them… he sees no problem with not holding back.

As if Kuro could read his mind, he pats Tetora on the back, “don’t hold back. It’s your day. Order as much as you’d like.”

“Yes!” Tetora cheerfully agrees, “I’ll make sure to write the report tomorrow!”

* * *

“Nagumo! Excellent work today!” Chiaki exclaims as soon as the two approach their table. “You too, Kiryu! You guys did well on your patrol! I was just investigating cases all day.”

“That's way more interestin' than catching some bag burglar... “ Tetora pouts as he slides into a seat next to Midori. The other rookie-- Tetora’s longest companion throughout the police academy-- looks at him with a fatigued expression.

“Haa… trust me, patrolling is much better than doing work all day. Ugh, I'm so tired… can't I just go home instead?” He complains, slumping on the table with an audible groan. Chiaki thumps him on the back, causing Midori to whine even more. “I have to do so much work though, Morisawa-senpai… do you guys not need a break or anything… how troublesome.”

“Justice NEVER sleeps, Takamine! Don't you ever forget that!” Chiaki reprimands Midori with furrowed eyebrows. “We may be taking it easy now out of celebration, but we should be sure to be diligent in enforcing justice off duty as well!”

Midori bobs his head slowly, and rolls his eyes. “Sure, sure… ugh, I’m not really a meat eater.”

“Oh man, that’s right, Midori-kun! Just order a salad or somethin’, I’ll eat your share for you!” Tetora magnanimously offers to his friend, but only earns a glare in response. “Huh? I’m doing ya a favor, yanno?”

Midori snorts. “Do whatever… I don’t care.”

* * *

The four (rather three of them, with extensive prodding required to get a response out of Midori) chats through their dinner-- of course, this is a plan devised by Kuro and Tetora to keep Chiaki from realizing the amount of meat they’re ordering. It doesn’t hurt to splurge once in awhile, right?

When the waiter brings out more meat for them to eat, Chiaki stops in the midst of their conversation. He narrows his gaze, scrutinizing the slices of beef on the plate-- then looks back to their grill and the rest of their plates. Tetora is still reaching out go grab more, and even steals some food from Midori’s plate. Kuro looks smug as he casually drops more meat on his plate. Midori, though, looks as if he’s about to faint from fullness.

“We should be finishing soon, huh?” Chiaki asks, “it seems like your stomachs can’t keep fighting for much longer!”

“Actually, sir,” the waiter interrupts, “you have 3 more orders lined up after this.”

“W-What?” Chiaki’s voice drops to a terrified whisper, and shoots a nasty look at Kuro and Tetora. “You two! Did! That! Huh!? My wallet… I have saved those for new figurines! Agh!”

“Is it too late to cancel the orders?” Tetora squeaks, dropping his chopsticks on the table, and one even rolls its way off the table. “Can I get another pair of chopsticks, too?”

The waiter lets out a sigh, but nods-- brightening up both Chiaki and Tetora’s demeanors significantly. “It is possible. This order has already been prepared, so I will go ahead and put this on the grill for you.”

Tetora clasps his hands together greedily, and sticks a tongue out in anticipation as the beat is cut and put to sizzle on the grill. After the waiter is done putting their food on the grill, he leaves to presumably get Tetora more chopsticks and to cancel their remaining orders.

“My wallet is saved…” Chiaki sighs, and happily takes the tongs in his own hands and cooks the meat for the rest of them. He drops more meat on Midori’s plate, urging him to eat more but only receives a complaint in return.

“Shut up, let me be a stick.” Midori retorts, and Tetora laughs. As always, his friend is not very respectful to his senior. Chiaki shakes his head in response, but decides to leave Midori alone. Midori has taken to poking everything on his plate, while Tetora keeps a steady eye on the grill to make sure he can grab it as soon as it’s done cooking.

When it’s complete, Tetora reaches for his chopsticks only to realize that he only has one. Stabbing can work too, he supposes, and he spears a couple of pieces and eats it off right the chopstick.

Thankfully, as Tetora is about to repeat the action again, the waiter comes back with Tetora’s new chopsticks. Murmuring a thanks, Tetora takes the new pair and respectfully brings more meat to his plate instead. Chiaki then asks for the check in a grim tone-- as if he’s awaiting judgement.

The server swiftly comes back with the bill, and lays it on their table to quickly attend to another party. Kuro snatches it immediately, and glances at the price. He nods at it as he inspects the prices on the receipt, and finally lays it back down and slides it over to Chiaki.

“Morisawa, you have my gratitude. Thank you for the meal~♪” He remarks almost playfully, causing Chiaki’s eyes to widen out of horror.

Chiaki anxiously reads through the bill, and a part of soul leaves his body as soon as he sees the final price with tax. “I… see…”

“Captain, ya want me to pitch in a bit? I feel kinda bad now…” Tetora pipes up, with a strong hint of remorse lingering in his voice.

Chiaki shakes his head, and reaches across the table to put a hand on Tetora’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Nagumo. This is my duty as your senior! I will take care of it!” He then takes out his wallet, and practically empties it of its contents.

Tetora’s eyes widened. “Uh, will ya have enough money to survive the week?”

“Ahaha, no need to worry, Nagumo! I can--”

Kuro shakes his head, and shoves half of the money back into Chiaki’s hands. He replaces the half with his own, and Chiaki stares at him incredulously. “I told Tetsu to go all out, it’s his celebration after all. I can’t leave it all to ya, Morisawa. It makes me look bad.”

Chiaki frowns a moment, but eventually his lips curl into a smile. “Fine then, Kiryu. I guess we are partners for a reason, huh? Don’t worry, Nagumo! We got this!”

Tetora rolls his eyes, then looks over at Midori. “Hey Midori-kun, you can leave now!” His friend lets out a sigh of relief, and stands up from his seat.

“I feel kinda bad I’m not putting my share in too…” Midori wearily took out his own wallet and tosses in a 1000 yen note into the pile atop the check.

Tetora blinks, “but you barely ate anything.”

Midori yawns, before giving Tetora an answer, “no, I troubled the rest of you. Good night, I’m going home.”

Before Tetora or the others can protest any further, Midori turns around and exits the restaurant.

“Well, there you have it.” Chiaki laughs, “it’s your celebration. Honestly, I think you’re gonna move up in the ranks, Nagumo! Don’t be surprised when I let you investigate on a case solo! I’ll try to convince the higher-ups.”

“Wait, seriously?” Tetora’s eyes starts sparkling at the possibilities--  _ man _ , it’s gonna be way more exciting from now on. “You’re the best, Captain! I’m countin’ on ya!”

* * *

The very next day, as soon as Tetora entered the office, it is in utter chaos. He hasn’t really paid attention to the news on the way here, but it seems like something happened. His seniors look utterly troubled as they fumble around on their computers to assemble all of the information.

A new case? Maybe it is his time to shine! If only he can work on that…

After settling his stuff down on his desk, he curiously makes his way over to Midori, who’s furiously typing away at his keyboard.

“Midori-kun, what’s goin’ on?” He tilts his head to the side and tries to look over Midori’s shoulder to see what he’s writing up. Maybe he is looking at the cases?

“You never watch the news, do you..? Ugh, something annoying happened.” Midori states vaguely as usual, and looks like he’d rather focus on his work instead. “It’s too loud… I guess no one would even know if I’m slacking off, huh?”

“You’re no help, Midori-kun!” Tetora grumbles, and stalks away to approach one of his superiors. As Chiaki and Kuro seem way too occupied with other things, he heads over to the chief director, Keito Hasumi.

He regards Tetora with a single glance, “are you wondering about what happened?”

Tetora nods vigorously, and Keito lets out a sigh.

“Well, my childhood friend went missing.” Tetora blinks, not really knowing who his superior’s childhood friend is or why that's so important to cause the whole police to go into a riot.

“Eichi Tenshouin,” Keito supplies, as if he could predict Tetora’s line of thought, “the heir of the Tenshouin conglomerate… That idiot escaped the hospital only to get into more danger. He probably got mad that I haven’t visited him in a few months.”

“H-Huh? Are ya gonna investigate the case, then?” Tetora looks at him eagerly, hoping that maybe, possibly, he can get assigned to this case. Tracking down a missing person possibly taken as hostage… sounds super exciting! “Sounds much more interesting than doing stupid patrols everyday… I wanna go investigate!”

“No.” Keito states firmly, glaring him down so Tetora doesn’t try to persuade him again. “You are ready to conduct your own investigation, but a missing person’s case is too dangerous for you. I’ll be investigating it with Kiryu.”

“B-Boss? Then… shouldn’t I be part of the investigation too? I’m  _ his _ junior, yanno?”

Keito sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Listen to me, Nagumo. Kiryu didn’t want me to tell you, but he doesn’t want you to pursue this case with him. We’re reassigning you under his partner, Morisawa’s care. We’ll let you act independently on another case when the chance arises.”

“That’s no fair!” Tetora protests, scrunching up his nose out of anger as he begins to argue with his superior. “I… I can do it, yanno? He knows I’m qualified…”

“No, you’re not.” Keito cuts him off sharply, “judging from this, you aren’t mature enough to work on this case. Don’t worry about it, Nagumo. Just write up the report from the arrest last night and you can have the rest of the day off. It’s too hectic at the office right now.”

“... what about patrol?” Tetora resigns himself to calm down a little, but he can’t help but question the chief’s orders.

“I’m starting the investigation with Kiryu today, and Morisawa is preoccupied with his own investigations at the moment. Someone else will take care of patrol today.” 

Tetora feels utterly useless when Keito rattles on in a dismissive tone. He clenches his fist, and opens his mouth to start shouting again.

Before he can, Keito shoots him a look. “You need to calm down. That’s why I’m letting you take the day off. I don’t want you to make any rash decisions.”

Deflated, Tetora nods. “Understood.” He then bows to Keito, albeit pained, and carries on to write up his report from last night.

“Tetora-kun,” Midori calls him over with a somewhat concerned expression on his face. “You’re so lucky… I wish the chief would let me take the rest of the day off… You think he’ll let me if I asked?”

Tetora laughs, feeling somewhat cheered up by Midori’s usual ridiculousness. “Maybe, ya gotta try, Midori-kun!”

Midori gives him an uneasy smile, but slides out of his chair and skulks over to talk to Keito about possibly getting the rest of the day off.

Tetora quickly types up his report, and prints it out. He hands it over to Keito while he’s still talking to Midori, although his friend looks a little disappointed while Keito lectures him. Tetora mouths a good luck to his friend, and quickly grabs his stuff off his desk and leaves the office.

He just needs time to think.

* * *

Now stuck wondering what to do for the rest of the day, he considers the possibility of going to work out at the gym-- or even practice his skills in the shooting range. In the midst of his thinking, he’s interrupted by his stomach grumbling. Right. He only ate cereal for breakfast.

Not really caring where he goes, he walks down the streets and slides into the first foot establishment he sees.

He’s greeted with an elated ‘welcome’ and a ring of the bell as soon as he walks in. Cheerful bubblegum pop (or something, he didn’t really know music) blares in the background, and he inspects the interior for a few moments. It’s totally oriental and all, but the music is incongruent with the decor.

This might not be his scene.

A boy (around the same age as him) with orange hair and the greenest of eyes approaches him with a large smile on his face. “You’re the first customer of the dayyyyyyy! Here, take a seat!” Tetora is left no way to respond, but he’s immediately seated at a circular table right next to where the cash register is. Huh.

“Isn’t this kinda close to the cash register…” He asks suspiciously, but the other boy laughs in response.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! I wanna talk to you. Usually I’d be the chef, but my Yuta-kun insists on cooking today~ I warn you, he kinda makes things spicy.” The boy’s face becomes solemn all of the sudden, and it only makes Tetora even more confused.

“Huh? Is there not a menu?” Tetora blinks, and all that’s going through his mind is a reasonable amount of fear. He really has taken a gamble today. He can handle spicy food perfectly fine, but… he has no idea how a restaurant like this has survived up until now.

“Well, I  _ guess _ there is! But isn’t it more fun if you don’t know what you’re getting, Mister Cop?”

The way he’s addressing him like that. It feels gross. He doesn’t really want to be acquainted with him at all means, but he’s going to go crazy if he hears this guy say that again. “My name is Tetora Nagumo.”

“Oh, Tetsu-kun, huh~?” He chirps as he reaches over to the counter to grab a menu, and presents it to him. “You can call me Hinata-kun, then? Or you can give me a cute nickname. I don’t mind!”

Tetora sighs, and he reluctantly takes the menu from Hinata. “I’ll just call you Hinata-kun, then… hey, do you guys have any meat?”

“Are you fine with Chinese styled food?” Hinata asks, and it didn’t take long for him to get a response from Tetora.

“That’s my favorite! I try cooking it myself, and it’s totally my specialty! But for some reason it turns out black… it can’t withstand the flames of passion, huh!?” Tetora states pridefully at first, but as he goes on he gets more and more deflated.

Hinata snickers, and Tetora burns in embarrassment.

He’s acting really stupid right now. He quietly hands Hinata back the menu, and tries to look away from his gaze. “I’ll… have what you said, then.”

Hinata nods knowingly, “mhmm~ I was right! You’d go for the surprise anyways. In any case, I’ll need to get you something to drink. You look thirsty.”

“Water is fine,” Tetora states dismissively, and Hinata flashes him a grin before he runs off to grab him some water.

With a sigh, he takes out his phone out of his pocket to check whatever messages are on there. Some are from Chiaki, but when he opens to read them they are just annoying messages about how he’s excited to work with him more and what not. He even compares the three of them to his dumb tokusatsu shows. Okay,  _ whatever _ . 

“Here’s your water,” Hinata announces as he sets the cup on his table. Tetora blinks, and looks at him warily.

“Don’t you get other customers?”

Hinata laughs, “of course we do! It gets really busy at night, so we have other employees then. Our boss is sick right now, so we’re handling the restaurant~”

“Well, the music doesn’t go with the restaurant, for starters. Geez, are you tryin’ to put him out of business?” Tetora shakes his head, but only gets a thoughtful glance from Hinata.

“Oh, you’re right. I thought it’d make here seem a little funner~ maybe I should try to get into Chinese pop or something!” Hinata concedes, nodding to himself vigorously as he probably makes the mental note to check out whatever later.

Tetora, a bit exasperated, shakes his head at the other and drinks from his glass of water.

He hears a distant voice, but somehow Hinata can hear it all too well. “Oops, I think your order is ready! Feast your eyes, Tetsu-kun!”

Tetora sighs, and starts frowning as soon as Hinata left his table. Somehow the craziness of this strange guy cheers him up a little. His phone vibrates a bit, but as soon he’s about to pick it up to check the texts, Hinata exits the kitchen. He opts to ignore it, since it’d be rude to be on his phone while he’s talking to someone else.

He only assumes that Hinata is probably going to try to eat with him. Maybe this ‘Yuta-kun’ or whatever will come over too.

“Your meal is ready~ actually, is it fine if we eat with you? It’s around lunch break, after all. We try to eat as early as possible before all of the customers come in!” Hinata asks, and Tetora nods vacantly. So, he is right-- these are pretty handle skills for an investigation, isn’t it? He really hopes he’ll be assigned to something soon… there is no way he can handle sitting around while everyone else has something to work on.

Hinata places the dish in front of Tetora, and tells him to enjoy his meal. He heads right back to the kitchen to presumably grab his brother and his own lunch over. Tetora grabs his chopsticks, and starts to shovel the food into his mouth. He has had no idea how hungry he is until now-- and the stirfry does have some sort of kick to it.

His mouth is on utter fire, but he doesn’t really care. It still  _ tasted _ good.

Hinata and a boy that looks almost exactly like him shortly come out whilst holding their own piping hot plates of food. They must be twins-- Tetora hasn’t really seen much twins in his life, surprisingly enough. He has a hard time differentiating them at first, but when he looks closely Hinata is wearing pink while his brother wears blue.

“Sorry about my brother,” The assumed ‘Yuta-kun’ apologizes, “I’m glad you seem to be… enjoying my cooking.” His eyes narrow directly near his mouth, and points a finger to his own to indicate a mess there.

Tetora blinks, but sets his chopsticks down and robotically wipes the sauce off his face. “S-Sorry, I guess I was hungry. It’s spicy, but it’s pretty good! Thanks!”

Yuta chuckles, “I’m glad you like it that much. But… Aniki must’ve been really annoying. Geez, now he doesn’t even feel like a customer. Why’s that, you know him already or something?”

Hinata hesitates before speaking, and instead shovels food in his own mouth for a second before finally responding. “Mmm, we just met! But I felt like we could be good friends, so…”

Tetora and Yuta look at Hinata with exasperation, but eventually the three begin talking about their lives and introducing themselves to each other.

By the end of his meal, he feels pretty well-acquainted with the twins. Upon graduating high school, they left their father to come study even more under this restaurant’s owner’s tutelage. Tetora too tells them about his grueling training to become a police officer, and why exactly he wanted to join the force.

He then takes out his wallet, wondering how much he should pay for the meal-- but a hand shoots out, closing Tetora’s wallet.

“Tetsu-kun, it’s on the house! You kept us company, so… don’t worry about the price.” Hinata smiles warmly, and Yuta nods in agreement.

“Huh, you sure?” Tetora blinks, wondering at the odds of him not having to pay for a meal two times in a row just this week… he must be really lucky.

“Yeah, you looked like you were down, sooo… that’s why I was being kinda annoying. You cheered up, so that’s enough for me! But you have work to do, huh?” Hinata frowns at the implication of him leaving, but shakes his head. “You should get going! Maybe you’ll come visit us again~? I’ll treat you like an actual customer then, okay?”

Tetora chuckles, “I guess so. It’s a promise. I’ll see ya two later!” He gets out of his seat and waves at them as he leaves the restaurant.

* * *

As soon as he left the restaurant, he opted to work off the calories and went to the gym to make himself stronger. (Of course, he made sure to go back home to change out his clothes. He’s not going to the gym in uniform-- that’s stupid.)  And now, he’s finally retreating home with himself being utterly sore and sweaty.

Throwing his stuff on the couch of his apartment, he groggily drags himself to the bathroom, and strips himself of his workout clothes-- making sure to place his phone on the counter in case something happens, and then steps himself into his hot shower.

His phone keeps going off during his shower, but he’s too lazy to reach for it and risk getting it wet.

When he finally finishes and wraps himself in a towel, he picks up his phone to see that it is Chiaki calling him.

“Nagumo! What were you doing-- well, it’s no matter! Something terrible happened!” His senior’s voice blares straight out of the phone, and Tetora winces from the noise volume. He groans in response, and Chiaki continues on, “It’s Kiryu.”

He snaps back into full-alertness, and chills of foreboding run through his body tauntingly. “W-What about Boss?”

“He’s gone missing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there we have it! tell me how u guys feel about this bc personally, i am excited for this au than anything LMAO...  
> i'm on twitter @sweetie_wink!


	2. it's frustrating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you ever cry over growing starry days bc that's me rn
> 
> also hey! knights the phantom thief is boppin. listen to that while reading this, maybe it'll put you in the mood? 
> 
> also, sorry about not making this as long as the first chapter! it's bc that was like? the exposition if u catch my drift.
> 
> sidebar also listen to this. i never watched the movie but my mom did and this song? a bop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oznjKFQA2eg u can kinda relate this to tetsu here!

The first thing he does as soon as he enters the office the next morning is go over to the chief. Unexpectedly (or as expected), Keito has dark circles on his eyes, a weary expression, and a few cans of energy drinks is piled in a mountain on his desk. Eyes are fixated on the computer screen as he moves the mouse robotically.

He doesn't seem to notice Tetora’s presence, so he has to speak up himself. “Chief! Tell me everything!”

The chief lets out a sigh, but obliges-- looking away from the monitor to focus on Tetora’s bloodshot eyes. “How incorrigible,” Keito murmurs, shaking his head, “that Morisawa… he shouldn't have told you if it makes you this stressed.”

“Well, I would've gotten pissed if he _didn't_ tell me what happened to Boss! So it's true..?” Tetora’s shoulders droop when he realizes he shouldn't be getting his hopes up.

“Unfortunately,” Keito responds, his expression softening out of sympathy, “Nagumo. I will accept that it must've been my fault. I was distracted with investigating a lead, and I may have let my emotions control me.”

Tetora stays silent out of shock-- so even the calm and collected Chief can act on impulse sometimes.

“Eichi Tenshouin is my childhood friend, after all. Even though he's an annoyance at times, he's still a very important friend. For his sake, I will do anything.” He frowns, despite the fondness in his words. “However, everything about this seems fishy. It almost seems as if he was used as bait.”

“Bait..? No way, did they want ya? Those jerks got Boss to fall into their trap?!” Tetora asks frantically, flattening his hands on his superior’s table.

Keito shakes his head, and takes a sip of his Red Bull (tm) before continuing, “They baited me, definitely. I cannot disclose further information on with what, but essentially… I was tricked by fabricated evidence. Then, Kiryu had to save me.”

“So he was taken in your place!” Tetora deduces, both triumphant and sad at the revelation all the same. “Well… can I go find him?”

“No.” He replies curtly.

Tetora bites his lip, a bit annoyed at the stubbornness of the chief. “I can handle it, can't I?”

“You're just going to get into more danger,” Keito sighs, “I will be pursuing Eichi’s case and even collaborating with Morisawa.”

“Captain? Yanno, where is he, anyways?” Tetora blinks, his face falling solemn as soon as he realizes that Chiaki must be in a state of depression. While Kuro is his most admired senior, he is Chiaki’s trusted partner first and foremost… he must have it tough. Once he considers that, he forces his hot-bloodedness to settle as he follows along with Keito’s sudden subject change.

“He’ll be he--”

“Sengoku, stop struggling!” A familiar voice whines-- his voice getting gradually louder as he approaches Keito’s desk. Both Tetora and Keito turn their heads to see Chiaki walking over with a short boy in tow.

The shorter boy has dark purple hair with a few streaks of yellow near its tips-- and he's dressed in a… flashy ninja outfit?

“Captain, did you take a cosplayer in custody? That's not right!” Tetora gasps, squatting down so he can get a better look at the ninja cosplayer.

“This ninja is NOT a cosplayer!” A surprisingly deep voice insists, and it takes Tetora a moment to realize that it's the boy. “Morisawa-dono insists that this ninja is inflicting evil, but also pats his head and tells him he's done good? Uwah… it's quite contradictory!”

“Well, you're a good kid, but-- assault is against the law!” Chiaki frowns, and Shinobu merely struggles even more under his grasp, and tries to wriggle out. In response, Chiaki tightens his grip on him. “You're a light kid, Sengoku! But you do need to serve--”

Before Chiaki can finish, smoke shrouds them in the air as soon as a noticeable fuming noise manifests. Tetora starts coughing, clearing his lungs of the smoke. In the moment of his temporary blindness, he feels as if a piece of cardstock is shoved into his hand.

Once the smoke fully clears, he opens his eyes to only see a dazed Chiaki and an annoyed Keito who takes off his glasses to wipe them clean. Upon being satisfied with his results, he places them back on.

“Ninjutsu…” Chiaki whispers vacantly, clenching his fist and shaking it. “Agh! The only reason I haven't been able to catch him!”

“It's prolly just a smoke bomb, Captain.” Tetora refutes Chiaki’s awe, but remembers the card in his hand. There is no definitive writing, instead it is written using magazine cutouts. Like those cool ransom notes, right? Excited to read it, he jostles Chiaki with his elbow to get his attention.

“Look, is this some ransom note or something?” Chiaki squints at Tetora’s words, and takes the note from him.

After scrutinizing the letter, he reluctantly begins to read it outloud: _“Hey there, hot stuff! Don't shoot the messenger, okay? We have robbed the desires and treasures of our first victim. It's up to you to solve the mystery of who. Sending the calling card straight to the police is much more fun than leaving it at the crime. It'll be our little game.”_

Chiaki scratches his head for a moment, wondering if this is addressed to anyone in particular. “It's been signed by _2phantom_. Nagumo, are you the hot stuff?”

Tetora reddens, and he nervously scratches the back of his neck. “Y-Ya can't just ask people that! But… I guess it's for me, since I was holdin' it?!”

“Nagumo, this may seem like a wild goose hunt, but…” Keito pipes up after he's properly cleaned his glasses, and the ends of his lips curve into a smirk, “why don't you play along? There have been no reports of a robbery as of yet, but we may have a phantom thief on our hands.”

“W-Wait, seriously? Aren’t phantom thieves just in books?” Tetora sputters, eyes wide with confusion as he tries to snatch back the note from Chiaki. He has to make sure Chiaki wasn’t joking around and read it wrong-- but Chiaki merely lifts his hand away, leaving Tetora to grab at thin air.

“Not so fast, Nagumo! I read it right,” He exclaims with utter confidence in his voice, “but… you will have to deliver it to someone else to have it examined properly. We could probably trace back the calling card.” He then drops the card back into Tetora’s hands with a reassuring grin.

“They’re stylish, so it’s only natural that some criminals love to show off.” Keito explains, shaking his head as he regains his composure. He ingests more of his energy drink before continuing, “this _2phantom_ has seemed to take a specific interest in you. This might be a mere taunting of the police. Sit tight and wait for a call to come in about a robbery while we analyze the calling card. If it’s more than a prank, then I will leave this case to you.”

Chiaki pats Tetora on the back, “chin up! This is your chance, Nagumo!”

Tetora, momentarily forgetting about his senior’s disappearance with the news of his own investigation, smiles and bows. “Thank you, Chief! I’ll make sure I’ll do ya proud!”

But a silly case like this doesn’t even seem remotely exciting-- there’s a certain mystery to it, but it seems like an elaborate prank. There’s no way these phantom thieves even exist.

Keito gives him a curt nod in return, and Chiaki gives his shoulder a squeeze of reassuring. Tetora blinks, and tries to look away before returning to his job of sitting at his desk, waiting for a call to come.

Instead, Chiaki wraps his arm completely around Tetora’s body, and drags him over to his desk. He finally lets go of Tetora, and sits down in his chair.

“Uh… what’s this about, Captain?” Tetora asks, lips curving into a hesitant frown as Chiaki glances at him with utter remorse on his face. He then assumes that his superior is probably about to talk about his partner again-- or maybe he sensed how angry he is?

“I’m sorry, Nagumo,” he starts off, looking unsure as he tries to word his apologies. “It must be unfair to you. Kiryu is important to me-- he’s my best friend. Even when I felt down, he always knew what exactly to say-- let me tell you something he told me. He said from the very beginning that…”

“He what?” Tetora pushes, and but Chiaki’s voice grows weaker and he averts his gaze. “You have to tell me, Captain.”

“It’s not really my story to tell. I’m sure Kiryu wanted to tell you himself… I’m sure he will when we find him,” He laughs, albeit sadly, “don’t hate Chief Hasumi too much, okay?”

Tetora clenches his fist as he looks down at the ground, “it's so frustrating! Why won't he just let me go look for him? He means the world to me, yanno? It's horrible that I just saw him not long ago and… BAM! He's gone! And Chief is telling me I can't do a single thing about it?”

Chiaki stays silent, and reaches a hand out to pay him on the head.

Tetora bristles, and slaps his superior’s hand away. “Am I too much of a kid still? I'm not just some lousy student anymore!”

“Nagumo,” Chiaki starts-- softly, yet sternly, “hate me all you want. But you need to realize that this is for your own good. You're still a rookie officer. If you're being driven by your emotions… this case will be really dangerous for you. Do you understand?”

“It's not fair.” Tetora bites his lip, “I wanted to become a police officer to protect others. But being told I can't even protect someone dear to me… it's not fair!”

“Nagumo, listen to me!” Chiaki raises his voice, garnering attention from the rest of the office-- a majority of their coworkers have gone out on patrol or working on their individual cases, so the only others they are in the presence of are Midori and Keito.

Keito, however, ignores the commotion and is working wearily on the case. Midori pokes his head over his and Chiaki’s computers to butt in.

“Hey, quit fighting.” Midori states sternly, “you're being noisy… ha… I wonder if I can just go home early. I can't deal with you two doing this _too_ …” With his exasperated words, he lets out a sigh and forces himself out of his seat. He sulks over to the Chief, and practically begs to be let home early.

Now distracted from their own discussion, Tetora and Chiaki sheepishly watch Midori.

“Morisawa and I are going to leave soon, though.” Keito groans loudly, rubbing his temple as he looks over to Chiaki. “Just leave Nagumo alone, he's just going to keep arguing with you. Come on, make your preparations.”

Chiaki nods sheepishly, and jumps out of his sheet and rushes around to gather materials for them to leave. Before Tetora can protest, Chiaki gently forces him into his chair.

Midori frowns, “Tetora-kun can handle the office by himself… I'm tireeeed…”

Keito clicks his tongue, but voices what seems to be a resigning sigh, “Alright. You worked well today, Takamine. You can go home.”

Midori does a little cheer, and he happily (for once) goes to pack up his stuff. Upon reaching his desk, he mutters to Tetora, “You can text me later… I guess.”

The rookie officer chuckles, “thanks, Midori-kun.”

Midori walks briskly out of the office, shutting the door with a less than pleasant _bang_!

Keito clicks his tongue again at the taller boy’s behavior, but shakes it off. He goes over to the coat stand to grab his jacket, and puts it on. “Morisawa, you ready?”

“As I'll ever be, Chief!” Chiaki chirps in response, somehow bouncing back and sounding chipper again. “Nagumo, we trust you to protect the office! Make sure to wait for a phone call so you can get started on your own case!”

“You can leave after someone else gets here.” Keito supplements, and then he and Chiaki leave through the bureau’s door.

Tetora frowns as soon as he is sure the two of them has left the premise, and then slides out of Chiaki’s chair. He does want to delve in and try to find out more about Kuro’s disappearance, but he realizes he might get fired for that. So, he begrudgingly returns to his own desk to twiddle his fingers as he waits for a phone call.

Pouting, he plops down at his own desk, and turns back on his computer. Since he has to deal with some stupid phantom thief thing, he supposes he should conduct some research on them.

* * *

After some research, he's concluded one thing for sure: as a police officer, a phantom thief is an utter pain in the ass. He really has to go all over the place just to track down this guy? If he remembers what the calling card said, it has referred to this as a game.

Tetora realizes it might be a little farfetched, but if the phantom thief has set up this game for him… maybe they might be involved with his senior’s disappearance?

It sounds implausible when he thinks of it like that, but there isn't really any harm in trying. “I guess I gotta do this case. Yes! Connecting it to Boss’s case makes this hella interestin’!”

Suddenly pumped up by this new-found possible connection, he begins to do a simple google search on more tips on catching a phantom thief. As soon as he pulls up a good hit, the phone finally rings.

He takes a gulp. It's the moment of truth.

He picks up the receiver, and greets the caller, “Hello! This is the Commissioner Bureau--”

He's quickly cut off by a flood of information, and he has to ask the caller to slow down so he can jot everything down. Luckily, the other complies with his request and he manages to get a general gist of the report. He thanks the caller for their information, and hangs up.

Surveying the information on the piece of notebook paper he scribbled on, he nods thoughtfully. Calls are usually concerning robberies or other general reports about suspicious people-- or even murder. This one in particular, is the one he is looking for. A robbery. Underneath the location, he's written more information he was given about the case.

_Everything is in order. But a very important and expensive necklace belonging to the caller has been stolen. A stamp of sorts has been left on the case. It resembles two interlinked triangles. So there is a calling card? Or it might be a signature…_

Tetora sighs at the notion of there being a signature of sorts. Maybe the phantom thieves has altered their rules since then? Or they lied.

If so, he isn't sure if he can trust anything they send in the future, or at least he knows to take it with a grain of salt.

He wants to investigate the crime as soon as possible, but he's still stuck here until someone comes back from patrol… he doesn't really want to get fired.

Wanting to go no matter what, Tetora takes out his phone and dials Chiaki’s number. He waits for a bit, and the other finally picks up.

“Nagumo? Did something happen?” Chiaki sounds tired from the other side-- jittery, even.

“Captain? Ya doin' fine?”

“It's… uh… coffee. Don't worry.”

Tetora rolls his eyes. It can make sense-- but what if he’s hiding something? He decides to not ask anymore questions. “Whatever. Anyways, I got a lead! A robbery was just reported, and I think the phantom thieves have a signature!”

“You need to investigate yourself before confirming.” Chiaki warns, and Tetora does realize that the detail being reported _did_ seem too easy.

“The patrol hasn't come back yet. Am I still allowed to leave the office?”

“Uh… Chief! Nagumo got his case-- he can? Nice!” Chiaki pauses for a second, “the patrol is heading back soon, so you can go ahead and go. Be sure to lock the doors.”

“Yessir!” Tetora exclaims, and shouts a goodbye before hanging up on Chiaki. Even though he desperately wanted to ask about the case, he knows that he has to get to the scene of the robbery as soon as possible.

* * *

The scene of the crime is in a surprisingly lower-class neighborhood. Tetora does recognize this sector of apartments-- he has came here himself looking for an affordable _and_ decent apartment, but decided against this area. It’s a little shady-- it’s not surprising that such a crime took place here.

He rings the doorbell, and he is met by the face of a middle aged woman. Her visage is wrinkled from what he presumes to be overworking, but she dons expensive clothing. Is she particularly wealthy? She did mention an especially treasured necklace has disappeared with a stamp of two triangles serving as its footsteps.

“My, thank goodness you came here so fast! The police is pretty dependable.” She gushes, and Tetora laughs hesitantly in response. He sheepishly rubs the back of his neck as the woman continues to praise him for some reason.

“Well, come on in! I’ll get you some tea and rice crackers!” She smiles, clasping her hands together as she urges him in. Tetora, left with no choice, takes off his shoes before entering the humble apartment and slips on the provided slippers. “Sorry for my intrusion!” He shouts out-loud.

“That isn’t necessary, Ma’am! The investigation shouldn’t take too long, so ya don’t gotta go through the trouble to prepare anythin’!”

“My, it’s fine! What a darling young man-- investigate at your leisure, Officer-san.” She brings a hand to her lips as if she is stifling a giggle, and carries on to disappear in the kitchen.

Blinking, Tetora is left alone to begin his investigation. The first thing he does is walk into the living room and spots the display lying on the coffee table. She supposes she has placed it there for his convenience-- how thoughtful, but she might’ve been better off not messing with the crime scene.

Although, it’s not like some murder, so… he’s just here to examine the display.

He squats down on the carpeted floor and takes out his phone. He snaps several pictures of the assumed signature, and decides to analyze it carefully later. He couldn’t narrow down any suspects at the moment-- but he assumes that the phantom thieves has to be someone he already knows. Or it might be a complete stranger he doesn’t know-- but they know him? It’s kind of creepy, now he thinks about it.

Deciding to leave the deduction for later, he gets up and straightens his back. Before he can announce his departure, the owner comes back with a tray of tea with snacks.

“Please, help yourself!” She urges, pushing the tray at him.

A bit unsure, Tetora grabs a rice cracker off the plate. Deeming it rude for him to eat right in the living room, he opens his mouth to speak, “is it alright if I wanna discuss more details about the case over tea?”

She looks at him blankly for a moment, but ends up nodding her head. “Of course, I don’t have a good recollection of everything, but I can vouch for myself and my husband.”

* * *

On his way back to the office, he mulls over the data he’s collected from the crime scene. With the alibi the woman gave him, he’s confirmed that neither of those occupying the apartment have stolen the necklace-- but that’s already reasonable to assume without the alibi.

She has no recollection of someone else coming into their house, so Tetora can only wonder about their methods-- but that might be for another day.

The sun still shines high above in the sky, signifying that the day is still young. However, he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to solve this case-- especially with the fact that he has no leads on possible suspects.

Maybe he should’ve asked the neighbors, but none of them seemed to be home-- plus, he isn’t sure if he’s allowed to interrogate other citizens without consent from Keito.

* * *

Upon returning to the office, a coworker told him that he can leave for the day after writing a report of the progress he has made on the case. He doesn’t exactly understand why, but he assumes the other took pity on him because of Kuro’s disappearance. Geez, he really hasn’t been going to work that often this whole entire week. It’s really been a whirlwind of events lately.

He hasn’t eaten that much, he just politely drank some tea and nibbled on a rice cracker whilst at the victim’s home-- so he’s still kinda hungry.

Tetora somehow manages to budget pretty well this month so far, so he decides to treat himself to something really good-- but then he remembers that he kinda did just eat Korean barbecue just the other night.

He checks the time, wondering if it’s appropriate to actually get dinner yet, and is disappointed that it is still around 4 or so. It may be a good time for some, but he prefers to eat much later. He sighs, and dejectedly wanders down the street… maybe he can make an attempt at cooking dinner instead. Should he go to the supermarket?

He shrugs his shoulders, and decides to just go home for now.

He’ll think about it later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will tetora cook? will he get to eat good food tonight? find out on the next episode of uh oh cop drama! 
> 
> psst u can follow me on twitter @sweetie_wink for previews maybe


	3. tetora's cooking show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the formatting, I'm out of town rn and can only post through my phone BUTTT I rlly wanted to get this out....  
> it's an actual light hearted chapter this time, a bunch of stupid shenanigans. we need a break from cop angst  
> a lot of tetsuhina so if u deem it necessary, u can skip the part when hinata appears but that's like. Most of the chapter

Tetora was _quite_ sure that if he didn’t watch all those police dramas or didn’t have the drive to become a police officer in the first place, then-- he would’ve totally became a master celebrity chef.

He’s gotten complaints before from his landlord about his neighbors complaining that the fire alarm goes off every time Tetora decides to take a crack at cooking. It’s really not his fault that the his pan happens to be set on fire each time-- he’s trying to cook in style. That’s how Chinese cooking is, right?

Either way, they just didn’t understand. His passion for the art is overwhelming-- it far surmounts any love he could possibly hold for anything else. Probably. One of these days he will be able to cook just as well at those twins from the Chinese restaurant he went to just yesterday. Even if he has eaten some Chinese food for lunch not long ago, he plans to prepare something of similar caliber on his own.

So, he’s resolved to take a trip to the shopping district. He doesn’t know what he’s going to cook, because he’s sort of wanting to save for the rest of the month-- and he also hasn’t went to the shopping district in so long. Maybe he’ll come up with something, and he’ll just look up a recipe on his phone or something.

Changing into more appropriate attire to go shopping in, he grabs his keys, phone, and a wallet before exiting his apartment. He makes sure to lock the door (what if those pesky phantom thieves rob him? He owns nothing of interest and hardly anything of value, so it’s probably a farfetched concept in the first place), and once satisfied-- he begins to walk in the direction of the area.

* * *

“Tetora-kun, you don’t come by often…” Midori greets him with a tired expression on his face, as usual. He pauses for a second, but perks up when he realizes the reason Tetora might have come here, “Ah. Don’t tell me you’re going to cook.”

“Ya bet I’m gonna!” Tetora exclaims excitedly in response, placing his hands on his hips as he leans over to inspect the vegetables his coworker had. Midori’s family owns a green grocer, so whenever Midori wasn’t working-- he has to work at his parent’s place since his older brother isn’t around to help out.

“This can only end well,” Midori remarks sarcastically, and he looks at his friend with slight concern, “so you’re in a better mood, huh..?”

Tetora smiles softly, and averts his gaze to looking down at his feet. “I kinda have to be in a better mood, don’t I? I just… realized that it wouldn’t be doin’ Boss any good if I stood around sulking.”

Midori blinks in response to that, but nods regardless. He adjusts his posture so he isn’t merely slouching over at the cash register, and sits up straight. In a low, quiet voice, he attempts at reassuring Tetora again. “Yeah… but you’ll have your chance someday… maybe we’ll both have our chance.”

Tetora tilts his head to the side, confusion spreading across his face as he busies himself with looking at the various green vegetables in the midst of his thinking. “Whaddya mean, Midori-kun? I didn’t think you’d be interested in cases that much?”

Midori scratches the back of his head, and looks away deliberately before speaking. “Well… I told you before why I’m even doing this.”

“Not really, ya said things like enrollin’ in police academy by mistake, but ya put your best effort in anyways.” Tetora pauses, and he asks quietly, “where’s your older brother, anyways? He just cut ties, right?”

“No… hey, Tetora-kun, what are you going to cook?” Midori tries to change the subject swiftly, and Tetora bites his lip at Midori’s deflection.

He can’t exactly pry in deeper, it’d be rude-- but he says that he didn’t _just_ cut ties with his family. What could’ve went on..?

“Fried rice,” Tetora answers quickly out of respect for his coworker-- it wasn’t his place to inquire further. “Maybe I’ll be a lil’ fancy with it and put some pineapple in there.”

Midori lets out a lifeless chuckle, “do you even have pineapple?”

“I can get some, easy!” Tetora insists with a pout, rolling up his sleeves as he continues to look around. “Wait, ya sell them, don’t ya?”

“Mm…. yeah.” Midori replies, a hint of a smile ghosting upon his lips. “They’re over there.”

“Midori-kun!” Tetora complains, but walks over to grab one of the fruit. His eyebrows furrow as he notes how spiky they are-- he doesn’t really know how to pick them out, but he’ll just have to pray it’s not sour.

Midori mumbles something unintelligible, causing Tetora to lift a pineapple from its case and strides right back over where his friend is. “Didja say somethin’?”

Midori shakes his head, “it's nothing important. Hey… need me to ring you up?”

“Wait wait, I still need to get some other ingredients, yanno?” Tetora explains, plopping the pineapple on the counter and then begins to wander around for the rest of the required items for his recipe.

He hears snippets of Midori’s thoughts drifting from his mouth, but he mutters them so Tetora isn't able to hear clearly. What he can pick up though is one word: revenge.

To think that out of all people, Midori’s purpose would be revenge. Does he want to extract revenge on his brother..? No, maybe he is just mishearing things.

“Hey, you done yet?” Midori calls him over wearily, and Tetora scrambles over to the front with the rest of his things in tow.

“Well, good luck with the cooking thing…” He states plainly, scanning and bagging Tetora’s grocery in tune with an imaginary cadence. It's somewhat peaceful, and Tetora can't help but crack a smile. _He isn't suited for revenge._

* * *

Joy is evident in each step he takes, as he grows more and more excited about his cooking attempts. After getting some shrimp from the fish market, Tetora decides that he should probably stop by the grocery store to restock on eggs and the likes.

Noting how serene the day felt, Tetora begins to hum the theme song of one of his favorite dramas-- it isn't the best drama in the world, but the music never fails to impress him. Maybe he could've tried to be an idol at one point-- back in highschool his friends would note how good he is at karaoke.

A blur of orange swoops by, and it startles Tetora--however, he stays steadfast and is careful to not let all of his groceries to fall to the ground.

The figure slows down, and actually turns around in realization.

Tetora blinks, not knowing who it could be until the other reveals his face.

“Tetsu-kun! Funny meeting you here, huuuh~?” Hinata greets with a grin, “it's nice to see you again!”

“Huh, what are ya doin' here? Shouldn't ya be workin' or something?” Tetora asks with a genuinely confused look on his face. He glances over to see that Hinata has some bags of his own in his hands.

“Mmm, just picking up some ingredients~ I'm making Yuta-kun a surprise cake!” Hinata chirps in response, lifting his bag filled to the brim with things like chocolate and… hot sauce?

“What kind of cake are you makin’…” Tetora sighs, eyeing the bottle of hot sauce sticking out warily. “I would think ya hated me if ya made me some spicy cake. It's supposed to be sweet, right?”

“I said it earlier, didn't I~? A surprise spicy cake! Trust me, Yuta-kun loooves that kind of stuff!” Hinata exclaims pridefully, and stares over at Tetora’a bags. “You're cooking? Fufu, I feel like I might need to be there to make sure you don't burn anything.”

Tetora visibly growls in response, “I don't need any help! I could enter some cooking competition and win-- easy! Chinese food is my specialty!”

Hinata hums in response, and nods as if to go along with Tetora’s words. “No way, you’d get eliminated in the first round.”

The police officer gasps audibly in response, stopping in his tracks completely-- offended by the accusation. “T-Take that back! How would ya know, I never cooked for you before!”

Hinata laughs-- instead of the somewhat irritating mocking laugh, it sounds more genuine and lighthearted. Dare he say that it resembles one of an angel’s. Not like he can even know what an angel sounds like. “Well, we _did_ just meet yesterday. Hm, I dooo have the day off, so… why don't I come over?”

Tetora blinks, and almost drops his bags in response to the suggestion. He takes a moment to consider any consequences to letting him come over, and figures it won't be a big deal. “Fine… I'll show ya that I'm a total fit for the professional competition!”

Hinata simply grins in response, and transfers one of his bags to his left hand. With his free hand, he reaches for Tetora’s pocket-- the rookie cop shudders from the touch and backs away.

“Hey, what are ya doin’? I may not be on duty, but I can totally arrest ya for stealing!”

“Eh, don't get the wrong idea…” Hinata grimaces, shaking his head, “I just thought we should exchange contact info! We only met again through fate, but it's not gonna be on our side all the time!”

Tetora rolls his eyes, “whatever. We can just use infrared or whatever.” Hinata makes a satisfied noise in response, and the two of them successfully trades their emails and phone numbers.

He hope this doesn't mean Hinata will try to text him all the time… he doesn't mind the other’s company at all, he's one of those girly guys. What if someone thought that he is his girlfriend or something? How embarrassing… he can only hope his texting style isn't cutesy.

“Come on, Tetsu-kun! Lead the way to your humble abode.” Hinata cheers, and pauses to ask another question, “you have an oven, right?”

“... Go ahead and make your dumb spicy cake.” Tetora sighs, and he notices that the other noticeably brightens up in response.

Tetora shakes his head, but strikes up more conversation with Hinata as the two of them make their way back to his apartment.

* * *

“It's messy in here!” Hinata raises an eyebrow as he scrutinizes Tetora's living quarters. “You need a maid. Or a housewife.”

“I don't have the money for that,” Tetora retorts, as he sets his groceries down on the counter of his kitchen. Hinata isn't wrong, his apartment has been in a state of mess-- upon starting his career he's either been too lazy to do any housework or had no time to put his living space in order. The only chores he does is laundry and maybe he vacuums once a month-- otherwise, he has neglected organizing his mail and the rest of his junk.

“I can do it for free!” Hinata pipes in jokingly.

Tetora scrunches up his face in disgust, “gross. If you lived in my house all the time, it'd feel like we're newlyweds…”

“How cruel, Tetsu-kun! How dare you reject the married lifestyle!”

Tetora shoots a glare at him, and Hinata chuckles nervously. The other simply places his bags on the counter and turns around to face Tetora. “You're right, though, I can't leave Yuta-kun to fend for himself! But don't you want a clean apartment?”

“I'll clean later,” Tetora states dismissively, “first we should eat.”

“You need some supervision from a pro? Okay, alrighty! Give me a splendid show, Tetsu-kun!” Hinata declares, taking to leaning over the countertop eagerly awaiting Tetora to start prepping. “What's on the menu tonight?”

“Pineapple fried rice,” Tetora states-- his voice brimming with confidence, as he takes out his ingredients from the bad and the fridge.

From there, Tetora begins to talk through his cooking process, but is occasionally interrupted by Hinata so he can either correct him or crack a joke. After the preparation is complete, Hinata slides over inside the kitchen.

“Hey, what are you doin’?”

“Don't you burn all of your food? I'm just trying to help! It wouldn't do good for you to cause a fire.”

“Not all the time,” Tetora protests, “my cooking is good! I swear!”

Hinata shakes his head and sighs as he reaches over to the stove top, and adjusts some of Tetora’s settings. “The temperature is way too high, Tetsu-kun.”

* * *

Somehow, Hinata has banished Tetora to the living room to clean up instead of cooking. He doesn't get it, he has been doing pretty well! Also, isn't it rude for his own guest to kick him out of the kitchen? It's _his_ apartment and _his_ kitchen.

Grumbling to himself, he turns on the television to the news. As soon as the images appear on their screen, Tetora falters slightly. With wide eyes, his jaws drop out of utter surprise. A picture of Kuro is right on the screen-- the realization sinks back into his conscious once more.

_He's gone._

“Tetsu-kun! Order up!” Hinata’s voice snaps him back into reality, thawing him from his frozen state.

“A-Ah,” Tetora stutters, and mechanically heads over to the dining table and plops into a chair. Before him on his plate is a steaming hot plate of freshly stir-fried rice. He puts his hands together and mutters his thanks before grabbing chopsticks and digging in.

Hinata laughs and does the same as Tetora, and the two of them eat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

Finally, Hinata speaks up. “Did something happen on TV? You seem off.”

“It's nothin’ important,” Tetora insists, unsure if he should let Hinata know. He supposed that what he owes him-- not to mention it's been a while he's talked to someone like this. The only human interaction he gets is with his fellow coworkers, and maybe his parents if he's lucky that they're not both busy.

“Actually,” Tetora confesses, “my superior at work went missing just yesterday. I really looked up to him, yanno? Ya can understand, right?”

“Definitely,” Hinata nods in affirmation, “do you get to investigate his case?”

Even though he assumes that Hinata might be facetious when it comes to situations like this, he manages to surprise him by expressing melancholic sympathy on his face.

“Nah,” Tetora shakes his head, “I'm… not qualified to. I'm lookin’ into these phantom thieves cases instead. Ain't that crazy? I didn't even know they existed!” With that, he's unconsciously broached onto another subject.

Hinata’s eyes widen for a split second, but he goes back to normal, “that is pretty weird. Isn't that fun, though? Chasing after a phantom thief… it's just like all of those cool books! Arsene Lupin and all that jazz, right?”

“Maybe… it's hard since I can't get a lead on anything… I might have to wait it out.” Tetora frowns, but shrugs and goes back to eating. “I’ll just see what happens, these phantom thieves are just really good at what they do.”

“Sounds like a real challenge, good luck!” Hinata encourages him with a smile, and busies himself with finishing off his meal as well. “A police officer suits you far more than a chef. I was afraid for my own well being, so you understand, right?”

Tetora squints.

* * *

“Thanks for letting me use your kitchen,” Hinata expresses his gratitude whilst placing the cake into the oven. “I'm surprised that you had cake pans and the like. Did you make one before or something?”

“My mom sent me them for some reason.” Tetora replies dismissively, wondering what was her intentions-- he has to ask her later some time. It's not like she can anticipate that someone who happens to enjoy baking will come over to use his kitchen.

Or did she think he is going to try it out?

“Welll, I feel weird just loitering around. I'm going to your room!” Hinata decides this quickly, not giving Tetora enough time to object to Hinata looking through his room. He doesn't even have much in there, maybe some books about cooking or magazines scattered around. He doesn't really own anything embarrassing.

He groans and drags his feet as he follows Hinata to his room, and as soon as they arrived, Hinata makes an obnoxiously loud noise.

“Dude, shut up. My neighbors can hear ya.” Tetora grumbles, and Hinata recreates the noise to spite him. Rude.

“You know, Tetsu-kun--” Hinata begins, looking matter of the fact as he states his case.

“Ugh, if you're going to offer to be my maid, I'm just gonna kick ya out.” Tetora swiftly cuts him off. “I'll clean it out later, isn't it late?”

Hinata gasps at the realization, and glances at his phone. He frowns, and backs out of Tetora’s room. “You know, I thought Yuta was still being pretty rebellious, but it seems like he can't stand living without me--”

“Uh-huh, I'm sure.” Tetora rolls his eyes, but the two of them are interrupted with a strong odor reminiscent of something burnt, but the fire alarm didn't go off yet.

Hinata freezes, but forces himself to regain his composure and silently goes back to the kitchen.

Tetora smirks, “seems like I'm not the only one around here burning things.” He taunts loudly, and he hears a loud weird noise in response that strangely sounds like a moan.

He's really going to get some complaints…

“Hinata-kun, shut up! You're really gonna make people have the wrong idea!”

Hinata repeats himself, and as before, to spite him.

Tetora groans, and decided to finally go over to the kitchen to see how bad the cake is.

“Well, it probably isn't burnt in the inside, yanno…” Tetora reassures him with a hesitant smile, “it might be fine…”

“For Yuta-kun?! Nooo way, you can have it!” Hinata exclaims, pushing the cake toward Tetora. “Enjoy this cake made with a bunch of love ♥”

Tetora shudders, and Hinata seizes this chance to grab his belongings and bolts out of Tetora’s apartment before he can say anything.

This guy is really something.

With a sigh, he snatches food film from a container and places it over the cake.

He can always use it for a prank, but it seems like he'll have to decorate it himself.

Maybe Chiaki will appreciate it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you, hope you enjoyed this chapter!! it was fun for me to write and I actually did a lot of it on the plane lol  
> follow me on twitter @sweetie_wink for some more previews and sobbing


	4. what was lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's souma time. sorry for the short chapter! and also i apologize for my attempts at writing souma. why isn't souma in toyland more so i can see him do something rather than insult yuzuru's art skills  
> kanata is here too ig
> 
> also i think cooking tetsu didn't come home bc of the last chapter . i'm never trusting gacha again

A couple of weeks has passed, and Tetora is left with not a single lead-- too restless to sit around and wait, Tetora has taken to returning to normalcy: patrols. Days become dull and mildly uninteresting-- he might exchange a few words with Midori, but always has to communicate with others in pure police jargon. The spring in his step has slowly faded and is replaced with dread by each day. With no hints of success on either the case of Kuro’s disappearance or even  _ anything _ with these stupid phantom thieves, Tetora is stuck in a state of perpetual confusion.

He’s lost.

He longs to go back to those thrilling days of learning much from his superiors by each patrol he ventures on, and the rush of adrenaline when he’s done an excellent job and apprehends a criminal. Even after returning to doing patrols to get his spirits back up, they’ve done nothing but remind him of his missing superior-- therefore dwindling all hopes he had.

With a groan, he stretches out his muscles before getting back to work on his report for the day. The patrol has been eventful, and he’s been used as a mere tour guide-- despite how tedious it is, a voice inside him (sounding oddly familiar to Chiaki’s) nagged at him to help out the lost tourists. Other than that, he has been forced to keep himself occupied by making up fake stories about the people he passes by on patrol.

All the sudden, the door slams open and the sound of heavy breathing permeates the working silence established in the bureau. He blinks, and readjusts himself to get a better view of the commotion.

“Hashumi-dono!” An exhausted voice (which is also somewhat familiar) pants, and the chief’s name is muddled by clear distress.

Tetora resists the urge to roll his eyes, but he keeps a close watch anyways. Upon looking at him a little longer, Tetora can recognize him more clearly. If he recalls correctly, it’s another officer who went on leave for some reason. He left a vague note speaking of training or something, but it’s probably one of the reasons why Tetora has been thrust into field work so quickly-- because Souma Kanzaki has made an unexpected disappearance.

“Kanzaki, where were you?” Keito barks in return, shaking his head as he stands up from his desk.

“Ah, I was improving m-- THAT’S NOT IT! I heard that Kiryu-dono went missing!? How shameful am I to not have heard the news until now!” Souma cries, gesturing wildly as he spoke. “Curses, I intended to improve myself by making myself stronger, but yet… I have failed to realize something was amiss… as an apology, I shall--”

“Police officers are not supposed to commit seppuku. How many times do I have to tell you this, Kanzaki?” Keito groans, as he interrupts Souma by forcing the younger to sheathe his sword.

Souma frowns, and complies with Keito’s demands to calm down.

Tetora squints, however. Is he even allowed to have a sword? What kind of police officer is going to use a sword? Someone’s gonna just shoot him and he’s supposed to defend himself like that? But perhaps he has a way with the sword that he couldn’t even dream of having. The whole ordeal piquing Tetora’s interest, he gets out of his seat and saunters over casually.

Keito shoots him a glare that strongly suggests for him to get back to work. However, he doesn’t listen and decides to bravely ask the damning question. “Are ya even allowed to carry that thing?”

“Hm hm… you didn’t know, Nagumo? I have the government’s approval to carry around my blade! Look, look, I have a license and everything!” Souma enthuses, and he takes out his wallet to shove a piece of paper in Tetora’s face.

_ I can do what I want, _ it reads. Tetora sighs. “This isn’t official.”

“It is.”

“It is  _ not _ .”

“Nagumo, do you not see the official seal of approval?”

“It just says that you can do what you want! It’s handwritten, too.”

“I apologize, Nagumo! I see my error now.” Souma stashes away the former paper and takes out another one, that looks a little more official. “Here.”

Tetora inspects it, and nods tiredly. “I guess… but what is the other one for?”

“A search warrant!”

Keito clicks his tongue at that. “That is certainly not a search warrant.”

Souma indignantly protests and proves his own justice, but Keito dismisses him with a weary sigh. “Kanzaki, just… I need to assign you to a new case.”

“Hasumi-dono! I humbly request that you have me on the search for Kiryu-dono!” Souma exclaims, and bows his head straight down.

“No.” Keito refuses, but then he notices that Souma is beginning to unsheath his sword. Alarmed, Keito perks up and forces the katana back into its resting place. “Fine! Just stop doing that!”

Souma smiles, and his eyes sparkle with new determination. “Yes! You can depend on me! I'm sure we will find him.”

Tetora’s jaw drops open. This is so not fair. “Wait a second, why does he get to join ya guys and I don’t?”

Keito clears his throat and looks away, seemingly embarrassed about something. Tetora narrows his eyes at his superior out of suspicion, so Keito has to cogitate on a legit reason. Or that’s what he thinks he’s doing.

Tetora’s pretty sure he was just afraid of Souma swinging his sword in the bureau.

“It's because Kanzaki has more experience.” Keito explains in a didactic manner, but is abruptly cut off by the sound of the door slamming open. 

Chiaki walks in with a familiar face following him in tow. The visitor has light blue hair, green eyes, and a dazed look on his face. He seems to stay especially close to Chiaki for some reason. He glances around, and pouts as he tries to hide himself behind Chiaki.

Tetora doesn't really remember who he is or if he's done something, but he does recall seeing him somewhere. Maybe someone famous? He doesn't pay attention to idols and such these days, though. 

Keito, however, recognizes the face and angrily pulls Chiaki outside of the main office to discuss something clandestine. 

Left with the stranger and Souma, Tetora nervously looks over to Souma. He expects him to take over, but he stays stiff. 

He's kind of useless without Keito around. 

“Uh, who are you? You seem familiar, but…” Tetora initiates, acting a bit sheepish as he questions the man. He looks around the same age as Chiaki, and is a little more lankier than him. His height is closer to Midori’s than Chiaki’s is. 

“Hehe~ you must be Chiaki's cute ‘junior’.” The mysterious man giggles in response, defaulting to patting him on the head. 

Confused and a bit bashful, Tetora tries to subtly move away so the other will stop patting his head. “Y-Ya must be really close to him if you're already callin' him by his first name…”

“Chiaki is Chiaki, ehehe~♪” He chirps in response, and Tetora finds himself getting a bit annoyed at his deft dodging of his questions. 

“Excuse my impertinence, but please state your intentions!” Souma finally cuts in, quickly taking out his sword and brings it dangerously close to the newcomer’s throat. 

He, however, doesn't flinch a single bit. “You should be more ‘careful’. My ‘intentions’ are to… puka, puka.” He adds with a soft smile. 

However, the serenity of this guy doesn't lower Tetora’s suspicions. “Just tell us your name, if you can?”

“I have forgotten all these ‘memories’ of my ‘life’. Chiaki refers to me as Blue.” He answers, and Tetora rolls his eyes when he remembers Chiaki’s silly naming scheme. He mainly names things after his tokusatsu shows. 

“Do you remember your real name?” Souma questions warily, slowly sliding his sword back into its protector momentarily. He keeps his hand on its hilt in case he changes his mind.

“Kanata Shinkai,” Keito interrupts the three of them as he steps back into the room with Chiaki following him from behind. “So you’re an amnesiac, according to Morisawa. Please follow me so I can confirm.” 

Chiaki moves out of the way slightly so Kanata can follow Keito suit, but the other pauses instead. He shoots Chiaki a look to which he only smiles at in return. He places a hand on Kanata’s shoulder, and nods reassuringly, “it’ll be over soon.” He seems to mouth, but Tetora doesn’t exactly pride himself as a lip reader in the first place.

* * *

“Captain, so that guy was a wanted criminal? I heard that name several times, so… amnesia or not, ya can’t be just acting buddy buddy with him!” Tetora scolds Chiaki, and to be honest, it’s a first for him to see Chiaki all pouty and indignant. It can’t be that he’s attached to him even with the knowledge that he’s a bad guy.

“Nagumo, it’s different!” Chiaki huffs, “Kanata has amnesia, so it’s not like he’s remembered what he has done.”

“So? That doesn’t excuse him a single bit!” Tetora sighs, as he rubs his temples in frustration. “A crime is still a crime! So, what did he do? Murder people? Steal stuff? Scam people?”

Chiaki hesitates, and decides to stay silent-- possibly allowing for his juniors to reach a conclusion on their own.

“Shinkai-dono does seem to have a calming presence. Perhaps he is the leader of the mafia!” Souma concludes, his moment of insight manifesting in banging a fist against his hand. “Is that right, Morisawa-dono?”

Chiaki imitates a gameshow buzzer, and crosses his arms in an ‘x’ symbol. “Wrong! Nagumo, any guesses?”

“He must be a serial killer who drowns people.” Tetora mutters, and Chiaki makes the same buzzing gesture again. Maybe he’s thinking too much out of the box...

The creak of the door opening interrupts the three of them, revealing to be Midori in a frazzled state. His hair looks more windswept than usual, and Tetora notices that his uniform is pretty wrinkly-- maybe he’s gotten into a scuffle. “Midori-kun?”

Midori pants, as he puts a hand on his knee while the other holds the door open for himself. “Sorry I’m late… stuff at home happened.” He apologizes with a voice softer than usual. He pauses, and squints at Souma for a moment. “Did something happen..? Ah… why does so much things happen everyday.”

“Takamine, it’s alright! This is Kanzaki. He’s an officer in this bureau as well, but he was just gone for an extended period of time.” Chiaki explains, “Also, I’ve taken Kanata Shinkai in custody. However, he has amnesia so we are debating whether it’s right to press charges against him or not.”

“Huh? The fish thief? I mean, all he does is steal fish and return them back to the ocean or something… it’s not really worth incarcerating him.” Midori replies, exasperated, “he’s just been a bother to aquariums and such… if he has amnesia, he’s gonna stop anyways.”

“A fish thief?” Tetora and Souma shout at the same time, and the two of them exchange irritated glances.

Souma frowns, “I see. So that’s why the aquarium was missing a few fish when I went there this morning.”

“Dude, ya didn’t even question it!?” Tetora exclaims, “are ya an airhead or somethin’?”

Souma blinks, and he draws out his sword and slashes the air right next to Tetora’s stomach.

He gulps.

Midori shakes his head, and he tries to push through so he can just retreat to his desk. “Is that all..?”

“Takamine? Don’t you want to know what happened?” Chiaki questions with wide eyes that seems to be taken aback by surprise. Midori shakes his head again, and scampers off.

Chiaki shrugs, and decides to continue his story. “Takamine is right, Kanata was a fish thief. No one has been able to catch him until I found him in a fountain near town square…”

“Fish thievery… that just sounds so petty. Is this Shinkai guy one of those treehuggers? He seems like it. Maybe he’s vegan.” Tetora frowns, and now pondering on how people can be vegan in the first place. Sure, animals are cute, but meat is  _ better _ .

“He won’t remember if he’s vegan either. I think so, at least.” Chiaki humors him nonetheless, and he crosses his arms. “Anyways, I don’t want Kanata to know that he’s done bad things because it might motivate him to do more crimes! If he doesn’t have memories, he won’t have a motive!”

“He seems pretty attached to you, Captain.” Tetora remarks, and Souma nods in agreement.

“Ahaha… is that so? Well, Chief told me to give me your assignment for the day! Kanzaki, it’s not likely that you’ll be able to start on the case today, so… accompany Nagumo today and become used to the city again.” Chiaki tells them both with a smile.

“As you decree, Morisawa-dono! I will babysit him for you!”

“Babysittin’? I’m an adult too, yanno!”

* * *

“Hey, so… wherddya go in the first place, Kanzaki-senpai?” Tetora asks, now taking in Souma’s appearance completely. From faraway, his long and luscious hair is reminiscent of a woman’s. But now he knows who he is, Souma is much more manlier than he originally thought. His initial idea is to question his relationship to Kuro, but he doesn’t want to pry more than he should.

“I was not yet fit to stand with the police force yet. I graduated police academy and I was able to be in a investigative unit with Hasumi-dono and Kiryu-dono… the two of them guided me for as long as I can remember.” Souma muses, and to Tetora’s delight, he begins to talk about the three of them together. “Our team greatly resembled a family. They would both look after me and I would look after them… it was a nostalgic feeling.”

“Hehe, sounds pretty nice.” Tetora remarks happily, as he stretches out his arms as they continue to walk around the district they were assigned to. “A family, huh? I haven’t visited mines in a while, but Captain feels kinda like my dad. So does Boss. Would that make us brothers?”

Souma hums, “to be thought of as a brother… I feel quite fortunate right now.”

“Well, I'm an only child, so… I’m kinda jealous of people who do have brothers. It must be nice to have someone to quarrel with, but you manage to have a good relationship anyways.” Tetora laughs, and he glances at Souma to analyze his expression. Hearing his stories about the time he’s spent with Kuro, he can’t help but feel a little jealous-- however, he also feels like he can somehow trust him already. 

“I am barely acquainted with my younger brother, so I feel like I may be in the same situation as you.” He points out, and Tetora’s eyes widen.

“Huh? Why? Did they…”

“My family wanted me to inherit the business, but I wanted to become a police officer… we have had a disagreement.” Souma explains, and tries to swiftly change the subject. “While our blood binds us, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily what determines our family.”

Tetora nods in agreement, and they leave it at that. 

“There was a time when my strength was not sufficient. It was very shameful,” Souma dips his head when he remembers, and then he stops in his path. “Nagumo, we should complete our rounds first before taking the time to speak in neutral territory.”

“Territory? Why do you keep referring to the mafia?” Tetora groans with confusion evident in his voice.

Souma frowns, and takes out his sword. “I see… I was a fool to not realize that you may not be familiar with it. I must atone!”

“No ya don’t!” Tetora yells, as he grabs the sword from Souma and slides it back into its sheathe. “Geez, having a sword is already pretty out there, but… don’t stab yourself  _ or _ anyone else with it!”

“B-But… it’s the samurai’s way!” Souma wails, and Tetora starts to regret his idea to consider Souma his older brother.

“That’s not the only way… anyways, are ya lookin’ right? Look, there’s a kid all alone in the streets. I think he’s cryin’...” Tetora’s shoulders droop, but he shakes his head and starts to walk over to the young boy. Souma blinks as he is initially caught off guard, but he comes with Tetora to possibly observe how he handles the situation.

Upon approaching the child, Tetora squats down so he can seem less threatening. “Hey,” he greets the boy gently, “ya lost or somethin’? I’m with the police, so ya can rely on me!”

The child doesn’t budge, and instead turns his back from Tetora.

Well. How he is he supposed to deal with this?

Souma then comes in from the other side, and squats down as well. He keeps his sword to the side, and he softens his expression to not look as intimidating. He doesn’t say anything, and instead pets the child on the head reassuringly. “Shed your tears now, so that you can become stronger in the future.”

The child continues to sniff, but eventually his sobs come to a gradual stop as Souma manages to soothe him. “Would you mind telling me all of your troubles? As a samurai, I will take on your troubles and I will handle it with ease.”

“A samurai?” The boy’s eyes light up with intrigue at the word, and Souma nods pridefully.

“Yes, one who is honorable and always steadfast to help their master. Samurais are loyal to the end, so you can rely on them.” Souma explains with a smile, and Tetora’s lips curve into a grin of his own when he notices how much the boy perks up at the idea.

“Can Samurai-san help me find my mommy?” He asks, and Souma nods once more.

“Very well. I will surely find her. Show us where you last saw her.” 

* * *

“Wooow, Kanzaki-senpai! You’re much better than I thought ya would be at this!” Tetora enthuses after the two of them successfully reunited the boy with his mother. Although Souma refused a reward, the woman gave them a gift card to a random restaurant (well, not  _ so _ random) out of her gratitude.

Souma offers the giftcard to Tetora, “I was planning to cook for Hasumi-dono tonight, so… you may have it.”

“Huh? Ya cook?” Tetora blinks, his interest piqued by the idea. Maybe Souma will let him cook with him! It’d be pretty fun, right?

“Yes. I do enjoy it quite a bit.”

“Me too! But I never get to cook for some reason…” Tetora laments, thinking back to how Hinata somehow stopped him from cooking as he pleased. It couldn’t have been just a coincidence, maybe the world is just set on making sure he never gets to cook again.

Souma takes out his sword. “You must be an ill omen for me, then. You must perish, Nagumo.”

“W-Wait, Kanzaki-senpai?” Tetora laughs nervously, eyes widening as he brings a hand up as a form of defense. “Y-You can’t just murder your little brother!”

Souma stops to consider, “Nagumo is correct… I would not be able to pursue Kiryu-dono, then. My apologies, it seems like I’ll have to atone for my actions.” He then directs the sword right at his stomach, and Tetora quickly places his hand over the elder’s wrist.

“N-No, you won’t be able to pursue him that way either…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for reading! don't forget that u can follow me on twitter @sweetie_wink for updates!


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